The 1000 Day Holiday

Argh, ive hit the monsoon!

Grey skys and rain is the order of every day. Cool palaces here, as seen in the James Bond movie Octopussy. Had a lax couple of days and catch a sleeper bus tonight for Bundi. Back inland and away from the grey!

What an adventrure. As Lauren put it, it toally felt like it was us Vs the elements.

Day 1 was scorching hot, ~45+degrees. its quite amazing/disturbing to drink 10+ of your body weight in water and only go to the toilet once!

Dust storms hit in the afternoon, and this became a common occurence. 1st time was interesting, by the third day (constant dust storm) the novelty had definately worn off.

Watching the storms roll in is amazing, and my camera was sacrificed in the making of the pictures. So im currently 1 Camera RIP. Hopefully getting it cleaned will sort it.

Amazing trip, and very tiring considering there is much lying in the shade of trees, and sitting on a camel.

did a night train back to Jodhpur, primarily for one more Lassi! and then bussed today to Udaipur. Well and truly out of the desert and into the lush areas of monsoon vegetation.

Arrived into Jaisalmer this morning and have arranged our 3 day camel safari into the desert. Great weather forecast: temperatures ranging from 45 – 48 degrees. who would have thought just a few weeks ago I was below zero and getting snowed on. all the in the same country. 

Well arrived in Jodphur today from Pushkar. it is definately getting the desert feeling happening when youre seeing succulents growing beside the road.

Hasnt been too hot, and been having some amazing lassies (yoghurt drink) esp Saffron Lassies.. wow.

Another of those weird experiences.

This is a tiny town, we only saw 2 guest houses on the way into town. The first was undergoing renovations so ended up staying at the other.

Even when we went to inspect, it was a bit odd. They said there was rooms free but not untill 4pm (a couple of hours later). where most hotels/GH have checkout by 12.

Anyway we end up checked in, and we sitting in the common area, and I can see the entrance. An indian man and woman cautiously enter the building walk up a bit, see me and seem to get spooked. The manager tells them its ok. but they leave.

It seems that the hotel provides rooms on a per hour basis for those indians who need some ‘rest time’. All and all quite funny spending a couple of days hanging out there.

Went to dinner at the GH owners house in Fatepur Sikri. Even got to try my hand at making chapatis.

I can make round ones! (bend it like beckham reference)

Went and saw my first bollywood movie since Ive been in india today.

Crazy plot. crazy audience, cant wait to get to Mumbai so I can be in one. 🙂

 

sob sob, so romantic.

GRIN. guess its not a bad legacy to leave behind (the Taj was built for his wife)

Heading for Jaipur today…

These are friends I keep bumping into in my travels in india:

1: Sam; the instant Pork spew. within minutes of finishing your meal, usually just after paying

2:  Greg; You actually feel great and everything is operating normally. Except you produce around 20-30 litres of gas a day

3 & 4: Steve & Dan. Spew and diarrhea - The extended visit sometimes they hang around together, sometimes alone. Luckily havent seen much of these two. 

Full on, but really interesting. Had the fortune of not seeing any of the floating bodies in the river up close.

Worst job in the world:

Relocating the bodies that end up on the busy side of the river by dragging or punting them with a rowboat back out into the middle. Babies, kids and pregnant women are not burnt on the ghats as they are considered pure. instead they go into the river w a rock.

People who have smallpox or cobra bite are put on a bananna tree raft and floated down the river.

Summing it up:

Seeing people drinking the ganges water, beside someone washing their cow, beside someone swimming, beside someone washing clothes, another dumping rubbish, people diving under and panning the ashes of the cremated for jewelery. all just downstream from a sewer outfall defies belief!